bits and pieces

Random updates + notes on surrealism
Monday, November 17, 2008

Exams are finally over. I am thankful that I've only 2 papers to complete, because I am so much of a lazy bum. Let's keep fingers crossed that the workload's going to stay manageable like this for a long time to come. Felt a wave of liberation running through my body as I made my way out of the examination hall; last minute revision kept me awake for like 2 consecutive nights and I'm finally getting some real sleep!

Met up with Siaos and Rob for some retail therapy and ice-cream loving, can't describe how happy I am to meet up with them again. I'm going back to Miss Tan's for my guitar lessons soon, can't wait! I've been a bad, bad student. One whole semester and all I ever got around to playing are those 3 chords and those nursery rhymes, sorry 'cher.

This is a little out-dated but my halloween

2:12 AM

Blogging milestones
Thursday, June 12, 2008

I first started with a Xanga account back in 2003. And looking back, I can't believe I used to blog with words like "bahx", "oso", "suckx", "tink", etc whatever shortforms you can think of. High school ahlian-ness, seriously. I shake my head in disbelief when I see people typing LiKe ThAt now.

I'm so glad we're all past that stage now, at least I think we are.

Moving on, I was attracted to how easily customizable (and cool at that time) Blogspot was/is, and hence, I made my switch. That was 2005, we just finished O's and I went to NYJC for the first 2.5 months. So many skins to download from Blogskins and best part was, everything's free! Anyway, if you think you want to read the really old entries for one reason or other, here's the link: http://changyaijia.blogspot.com. I changed the address more than just a couple of times, back then it was kookyhaven (yeah i know, wtf ya?), then lubie-lub after ev started calling me lublub, doyouonlywannarara before finally deciding on changyaijia.

And sometime at the end of 2006, I thought the LJ-cut function in livejournal was pretty nifty. It just seemed a whole lot cooler hiding pictures under the cuts. So I shifted my daily ramblings to http://changyaijia.livejournal.com (check out the cute robot layout man!) for at least half a year before I decided that I want a change of username. Fickle fickle. Minishorts it was, for that seemed like my favourite piece of clothing at that time. (it's still a favourite now) I grew to love the Friends page function.

Rambled on at minishorts till Feb 08 before I decided to shift back to good ol' trusty blogger. I thought I'd be familiar with all the codes and stuff, I thought. But I realized posting pictures in blogger can be such a pain in the ass sometimes. Plus everything was html based, since I'm using a downloaded skin from blogskins. Really troublesome when you have new links to add...

And therefore, I have an announcement to make! I'm shifting again! Same old same old, only this time, it's wordpress! See ya darlings!

Labels: announcement, looking back, memories

1:58 AM

In between
Saturday, June 7, 2008

I was one of the inline skating instructors for the (mega) camp at Christ Church Secondary some few days back. The camp was a collaboration of 12 different churches, and participants were made up of young kids and some teenagers. I attended 2 out of 3 days and for the time that I was there, we developed a love-hate relationship with children, the sun and the hot weather. I don't know if it's just this bunch but children nowadays need to learn how to be more independant. I swear I could have started screaming at the top of my lungs if I had to take just one more lesson.

What exactly happened? I made all the kids grab a set of protective guards, a helmet, and a pair of skates each. Young children being themselves, I wasn't too surprised that a lot of them started putting on their skates even before wearing the guards. So, lesson after lesson, I had to repeat to them, "Children, please put on your knee guards before you wear your skates". I was okay with that, and maybe I'd just hoped that they'd start following instructions more closely.

TOO MANY of them were unable to wear the guards correctly at first, NONE of them watched when I demonstrated (though they managed to get them on one way or other), and ONE particular girl insisted that I help her put on every single guard. namai. She think she princess or what. What really pissed me off was the fact that they were unsure of how to wear the guards/skates correctly, yet they refused to listen to instructions and when they start failing to put them on correctly one by one, they'd be like "I don't know how to wear" with a damned helpless face. Imagine 7 - 8 children saying that to you all at the same time, I can assure you it's frustrating. I truly need to start my learning stint at NIE soon, keeping fingers crossed.

dougie left for Batam with his secondary school friends yesterday, in the morning. He'd just called to say that they went cable-skiing today, and will be back tomorrow afternoon. Keeping fingers crossed for a safe journey back.

Visited Zouk with XY and Edwina last night. I met Z at the entrance and he was really nice to have helped me cut the (damned long) queue. We hopped over to MOS for a short while for a birthday party and met an asshole in Smoove. Headed back to Zouk after we tried trancing at the main arena. It's Zouk for me anytime baby. It must be Fred Perry night or something la, noticed that guys are REALLY into Fred Perry polo tees now, and they don't come cheap, Z told me he paid $200 for his tee. If I see the whole club filled with people wearing an identical $200 top as me, I'd be damned gek sim.

Caught up with Z on the phone after we headed home. He told me bout how he 'tested water' to prove his point that girls nowadays are just犯贱, and the girls he talked about were all from NUS. NUS girls love clubbing huh. He got to know one of them on the dancefloor, and they exchanged numbers, held hands, and what-nots. One particular girl messaged him to tell him, "Hey I think you're a good guy so I don't want to lie to you, I'm attached", after he asked if she's home already. In the next few days, he'd texted the girl out for a movie, and she said okay. He fed the girl, and she let him. He said to himself, that poor boyfriend. If he ever found out that his girlfriend did something like that, the one and only thing he'll do is to break up with her. While I do not necessarily approve of what he does to prove his point, I am appalled that girls nowadays are so open and liberal bout getting touchy with random strangers. Whatever's happened to staying faithful, and loving yourselves?

Then, he told me about his Tioman trip and made me kinda tempted to go for another weekend getaway real soon. It's only $150 for a 3D2N stay and there are so many activities to do! Fill you guys with more details if I'm going to organize one such trip okay?

Met up with tan, lala and ev for dinner at Sakura, Compass Point, today. Had fun catching up with the babes, and talking about nothing. I hope all goes well for the girls, and we'll be able to go for a sushi buffet sometime soon again.

I do realize it's been a long and wordy entry. Here's some pictures to go along with it. Hope your Sundays will be awesome.

my girls at dinner tonight

And last night, at Zouk:

xy & me

with xy's friend, karen (whom z described as scary, hur)

Other random stuff includes yf getting his fencing attire. This sport just seem so atas can, attire alone costs $500++.

yf. no sword yet.

dougie, who came down to look for me on thursday. (that's the fred perry polo tee that I'm talking about)

And this is something that happened at the camp:

It was really sunny and the weather was hot. This group of children were taking off their protective pads and one of them suddenly exclaimed loudly, "it's so hot! I curse the sun!" One of the adult leaders heard him and gave him a short lecture on how "God gave us the sun" and reprimanded him for cursing it. Chuckle chuckle. church camps...

ps. overseas sms-es ftw. thank you, zz. and of course, rl too.

Labels: clubbing, friends, memories, photos, updates

10:48 PM

a mistake, a confession and an apology

So much's happened in the past few days, I've never (and probably some other people too) experienced pain, anger, sadness, disappointment, betrayal, confusion, uncertainty and so many other different kinds of emotions altogether at one go. I really don't need the whole world to know bout what happened, so, let's just keep the number of people who knows about it there and there. I'm just glad that my friends have been supportive so far, friends whom I don't have to worry bout making them worried, and making sure that I'm okay is their more important priority. Love you guys.

It will be a brand new start, and we will be back to square one.

I heard sincerity in the voice, and saw repentance in the mail. I want to believe that you are truly sorry, and I would like to say that I'm no longer angry. I dare not and will not say that all's forgiven, not just yet. Just hope that whatever happens in the future, put yourselves in someone else's position before you do some things and think about how you would feel should something like that ever happened to you. As for now, apologies are all accepted. note: please do not mistake accepting an apology as forgiving.

It will be a brand new start, and we will be back to square one.
The learning process starts all over again.

Labels: thoughts

9:47 PM

BF turned 20 last sunday!
Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Celebrated bf's birthday together at East Coast Park on Saturday night. It started out really great, night sky was pretty clear and we could see the stars twinkling most of the time, breeze kept us cool throughout. Guess we found a great spot! Bf flipped through the scrapbook I made for him in the dim light we had, and after he was done, we sat outside our tent to have some cherries. Competed to see who could spit the cherry seeds further, but it was dark and we couldn't really see where it landed anyway! Started raining at 5 plus a.m. and we started packing up. I guess that's probably any other camper's worst nightmare. Slept in the car till we were woken up by some bus driver the next morning and bf sent me to work soon after.

My 2nd morning at Tampines West CC, little progress from the students heartens me. Patience, patience. Met up with the rest of the instructors for lunch at our usual kopitiam and exchanged stories about driving lessons, great entertainment, if I can say so.

Met up with bf again in the evening for dinner with his secondary school friends. They decided on Crystal Jade at Takashimaya, and we were half an hour late? Anyway, I'm not a fan but the XLBs were kinda yummy.

At Crystal Jade.

bf's secondary school friends

uhm, this explains why they came out so quickly. one urinal for each boy.

Moved on to Swensens where we had whatelse but ice-cream! Lots of ice-cream, if you ask me. Shared a sticky chewy chocolate with bf and his friends decided to surprise him with a cake and yet another sundae. We are so going to turn into fatties.

kiss-a-cherry

At Swensens.

birthday boy making his birthday wish.

cherry kiss.

happy birthday dougie :)

Made my way down to NIE the next day for a tea session, it was more like a Q&A session. My doubts are pretty much cleared. I now feel like I'm ready for this, yes, I can finally say with confidence, that this is what I am going to do, I would like to teach, I am going to become a teacher!

Met up with Siao and Rob for some dinner at Chomps. Lip-smackingly good bbq wings, sambal stingray, lalas, sotong, and satay with peanut & pineapple gravy. Lots of love! Too bad the usual stall that we order from wasn't opened yesterday, I guess the seafood could be a little better. Walked over to Mr Bean for some ice-cream but Siao realized the outlet at Gardens doesn't serve ice-cream the moment we reached. I can totally understand that feeling please. lol. Tried to satisfied the craving with some frozen yoghurt instead, the shop's interior is super eclectic and colourful please. I like! Bitched about stuff and I learnt bout Robin's 2 left ears, and Siao shared with us how someone mistook her 3rd Gen Ipod as a hard disk and asked "how come your hard disk so thick one ah?" Couldn't stop laughing after that. And even more so when I learnt that Rob also knows about the "call me emperor" bonging tale in one of NTU's halls. News spread like wildfire. Hahaha. Thank you for the wonderful night guys!

Siao's got a new nickname, Martianess.

Bf's got a new sinus problem, hope he gets well real soon.

Labels: birthday, bitching, food, friends, photos, siao

11:53 PM

In Memory of Miki

I've just learnt that an ex-colleague from Coastes has just passed on. He's the guy with the long fringe in the video. We were never close, but he's always been the cheeky guy with a smile on his face. It was a bike accident, and the bike he's on got hit by a lorry. I can't tell you how sad I am, he was a good person, young like you and I. I hope he's gone to a better resting place for now.

Sad to have lost a friend.

Now people, please drive and ride carefully whenever you're on the road.

Labels: dedication, friends, special

4:49 AM

Monday, June 2, 2008

I'm sorry if I've been a letdown.

Truly I am. Sorry.

1:06 AM